


a moment in spring

by tarantism (orphan_account)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M, RHHB, Restaurant Date, Spring AU, Spring allergies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24305056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/tarantism
Summary: in which vernon forgets to take his allergy medicine, and his date doesn't go exactly as planned.
Relationships: Boo Seungkwan/Chwe Hansol | Vernon
Comments: 3
Kudos: 79
Collections: bloom





	a moment in spring

**Author's Note:**

> from the prompt:
> 
> person a and person b are on a date, and its been going extremely well. however, person a has noticed that person b is consistently sniffling, and asks if they smell bad. person b (sheepishly) explains that it's their spring allergies.
> 
> /
> 
> thank u to isa for the prompt (ily). this is only something very short and sweet, because i completely forgot about this fic fest and had to pull this out of my ass in no time. it feels good to be writing again tho, even if this is complete drivel. still, i hope its a sweet read despite the obvious throwing together of sth last minute. happy end of spring!

“With you?”

The night was still young and Vernon’’s cheeks burned red hot with the memory of his bashful date proposal to Seungkwan and the boy’s hesitant, questioned reply. The chair in front of him at the restaurant was empty under the shimmering fairy lights decorating the ceiling, but the sight of Seungkwan’s shocked face and the words on his lips are painted so vividly in his mind that he can see the boy right there in front of him. 

It wasn’t like him to put his neck on the line to ask out the person he’d been crushing on since the start of his time at work, and Vernon still cannot put his finger on what possessed him at that moment to ask Seungkwan out to dinner that weekend. Shifting uncomfortably in his seat in his itchy formal trousers, he pulls at the lapels of his jacket and wipes his watery eyes on the cuffs of his sleeves. Maybe it was Spring, he was never himself during the season with all the pollen in the air and the change in the weather. God, he thinks, he’s forgotten to take his allergy medicine.

Grasping for the bottle of pristine, cold tap water in the centre of the table, Vernon almost drops it when Seungkwan makes a sudden appearance from behind and slips into his seat. His hand brushes lightly over Vernon’s back and the boy does the best he can to not start coughing at the sudden surprise before there is a bouquet of flowers thrust in his face. The petals narrowly miss hitting him across the cheek, the colours dazzling him as he tries to peer around them to get a glance at the boy. 

“Shopping for flowers is the lamest reason to be late to dinner, I’m so sorry.” 

Taking the flowers into his own hand with a slight sniffle, Vernon lowers them to his lap and admires the array of sunflowers arranged haphazardly in their purple wrapping. He thinks it’s a little early for sunflowers to bloom, which is why it is likely that a lot of them appear to be under-grown amongst the others, but he appreciates the thought all the same. They really are the happiest of flowers, and Vernon thinks they match the boy well, with how much he admires the sun in his laugh and the way he charms everyone at work with a simple gaze their way. He’s still more than a little shocked that Seungkwan had agreed to come to dinner with him that Friday, when he could have easily chosen anyone in their office to go out with somewhere special and devote his precious time to.

“They’re lovely, thanks.” Vernon smiles shyly, running his hand through his hair as he clears his throat, only realising his mistake of touching his face after handling the flowers when it was too late. He grasps at the glass of water and takes a long swig, cursing himself once again under his breath as he swallows.

“This place is _fancy_ ,” Seungkwan draws out the final word, peering around at the interior, the reds and golds decorating the walls that surround the elegantly laid white cloth tables, all filled to the brim with reservations for the night. Vernon doesn’t mention that it took him a total number of thirty-eight phone calls to the _Clos Maggiore_ \- all of which had failed - before he resorted to impersonating their boss to score himself a recently cancelled space at the establishment. He thinks it might make him seem a little bit desperate. And he’s not… He just really, _really_ likes Seungkwan; he has for two years since the boy first started at their entertainment magazine. 

“They have valets outside. Valets, Vernon!” Seungkwan grins, leaning forward in exasperated excitement. “Wish I had come here by car instead of foot. I’ve always wanted to hand someone my keys and let them do whatever it is they do with it.” 

The waiter approaches to serve them a bottle of wine (“An vintage Bordeaux red for the gentlemen?”) and hand them the menus before he scuffles away to serve another table. 

Opening the menus in synchronisation - after Seungkwan has run his palm across the red leather cover, mouth open in even more awe at how fancy the entire place is - Vernon can’t help but let out a chuckle at the way the boy is so fascinated and impressed by everything. Whether it’s a fancy menu or a new article Vernon has presented to Seungkwan for him to set amongst the page design, he never fails to make whatever it is seem like it is the most amazing thing in the world. The sight makes his heart flutter and his nose itch. Vernon sniffles a little, scrunching up his face as he reaches for the glass of red wine before him.

“You’re not afraid that the valets could steal your car?” Vernon asks, clearing his throat once again before he goes to take a swig of the wine. He stops before the liquid reaches his lips, swirling the wine in the glass like he’s seen pretentious people do on tv before he drinks it. He receives a laugh from Seungkwan and can’t help but smile back. “What? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”

“Sure, if you want to look like an absolute dickhead. And to answer your question, I’m not sure anyone would want to steal my absolute rustbucket of a vehicle. The thing barely runs - another reason why I was late. I think the battery is dead or something, so I resorted to getting here the old fashioned way.”

“By horse and cart?”

Seungkwan grabs his own wine and chuckles, tilting his head to the side with a slide shake in dismissal of his response. “You’re funny, Vernon. I never knew you had a comic side.”

Watching as the boy sips his drink and runs his hands through his hair, Vernon thinks he can make out the boy’s cologne heavy in the air. He’s used to the boy’s regular aftershave that he wears to work every day, looking forward to when he steps foot into the boy’s office and is overwhelmed by the smell of Seungkwan; today it’s different. He doesn’t know if he usually changes up his perfume whenever he goes out, or if he’s purposely changed it to impress Vernon, but he hopes it is the latter. 

His eyes are still watering a little, reminded of his allergies every time the flowers rustle on his lap. Vernon blinks in an attempt to clear his vision and peers down at the menu, flicking through the pages. He keeps sniffling, his face scrunching, peering up at Seungkwan every so often to make sure the boy isn’t too annoyed by the constant sounds coming from him. It was less than ideal in a place like this too, where everyone around them was dressed head to toe in their absolute best whilst they sat in their semi-formal wear, just a slight step up from their usual work attire.

“Oh wow.” He hears from Seungkwan, having to move the flowers from his lap to the floor gently in an attempt to help lessen the discomfort he was feeling. “This place is as expensive as I thought it would be.”

“Don’t worry, it’s my treat.” Vernon nods, scanning through the menu himself, noticing just how expensive it truly was. He subdues the desire to grimace at the thought of buying a seventy dollar steak dish for two, instead forcing the smile onto his face. Nothing listed was less than fifty dollars, and Vernon begins to regret not asking for the price of the wine before it has already been poured.

Seungkwan purses his lips and lays the menu down on the pristine tablecloth, leaning forward after a glance around at the interior again. “You know, Vernon. I am more than flattered you asked to bring me here, and I am so happy to be spending time with you outside of work, but a single appetizer costs an entire days work. I can’t ask you to pay that.”

He has nothing to say in response, except to nod his head and continue to stare into Seungkwan’s warm, glistening eyes.

“Look, we can stay if you really are happy to, but if I’m honest…” Seungkwan hushes his voice and smiles so charmingly that Vernon almost loses what he’s saying in favour of admiring the dips and curves of the boy’s beautiful face. “I’d be more than okay if you wanted to ditch this place to go and grab a slice from the place round the corner. What do you say?”

Vernon pauses, because he really wants tonight to be special, because Seungkwan is special and he deserves to be spoiled in the way Vernon deems fit. But the boy is looking at him so sincerely, with that same sparkle in his eye and he knows that it won’t matter whether they eat an overpriced, underserved meal, or something from a kebab house.

Fishing out his wallet, Vernon sniffles and nods in agreement, trying to smile through the irritation of his allergies. Seungkwan hesitates before calling the waiter over, who pulls out his notepad in anticipation.

“We’d like to order the cheque.” 

“T-the cheque? But, sir, you’ve only had a bottle of wine.”

Vernon swallows in embarrassment and goes to apologise before the waiter frowns and shakes his head in disappointment, turning on his heels to go to the tills and process their pitiful order.

Seungkwan lets out a whistle through a breath of air, reaching for the glass to down what was left in the glass before swiping the wine with his free hand. Vernon can’t help but smile, pulling out his wallet to leave a wad of notes on the table. He follows his date’s lead and swipes up his flowers from the ground with a little sniffle, and before they know it the pair of them are scurrying out of the restaurant, giggling despite the displeased looks of staff and customers.

Raising the bottle above his head like a trophy he’d just won at the Olympics, Seungkwan skips ahead of Vernon and sloshes some of the contents of the wine onto the pavement as they saunter away from the _Clos Maggiore_ ’s glaring lights and fancy exterior. Vernon wraps his arms around his chest in the chill spring evening air, running a finger under his nose to stop it leaking. Again, a mistake, as he realises that he had just been holding the bouquet with that hand. He grimaces and scrunches up his face, trailing behind his date who is still grinning triumphantly - as if he didn’t have to fork out fifty bucks for a bottle of wine.

“Pizza or kebabs? What do you fancy?” Seungkwan asks, slowing his speed so he walks hip to hip with Vernon in the darkening night. 

Vernon’s eyes are still watering, but his stomach rumbles and he reckons he could go for a kebab right now. He tells Seungkwan exactly that with a sniffle, and he can’t help but notice Seungkwan turn away and sniff at his shoulder for a moment as they turn the corner onto the next street over. 

“Can I ask you something?” Seungkwan prompts as they spot the bright, glowing sign of the kebab house. Vernon raises his eyebrows, prompting the boy to continue. “Uh, do I smell bad?”

“What?”

Vernon sniffles again and Seungkwan points at him, taking another swig of the bottle in his grasp. “That, exactly that! You keep on making these weird faces after you,” he imitates the sniffing noise Vernon has been trying to stop for the past hour, “and, I dunno. I bought this new cologne the other week and I wanted to try it out but… Does it smell bad?”

Shaking his head immediately, Vernon gestures to the flowers in his hands before blinking a couple of times to get the tears out of his eyes. Damn allergies! “No, God no. You smell delightful, actually. Even better than usual -” Foot in mouth, now is not the time, Vernon. “It’s these. Your flowers. I forgot to take my allergy medication before we came because I was in a rush to get to the restaurant before you and make it perfect and-” 

His whole body wrenches forward as he sneezes, earning a laugh from Seungkwan as they park themselves outside the takeaway. Promptly grabbing the flowers from him, offering the boy a tissue from his pocket which Vernon accepts with a smile, Seungkwan lets out a sigh of relief.

“Oh thank God. I really thought I’d bought some Vernon repellent or something. So much for me trying to impress you.”

“Impress me?” Vernon stands back up straight and embarrassedly blows his nose into the tissue that he’s been given.

“New cologne, flowers that made me late - that now, in hindsight, could have completely been ditched altogether if I’d known you had hay fever.” Seungkwan mumbles his apology, sauntering over to the bin outside to shove the bouquet in. Vernon goes to protest, but another sneeze takes over his body instead. “I promise next time, I’ll bring chocolates instead - unless you have an intolerance to lactose, or just don’t like chocolate.”

“Chocolate is good.” Vernon smiles, shoving the rag into his pocket now. “Though I really did appreciate the flowers, even if it was me who should’ve been impressing you.”

Seungkwan quirks the corner of his lip upwards, “It was a good try with the restaurant. When I got your text about the location I either thought you were a secret billionaire or were overcompensating for something.”

“With our salary I know you ticked that first one off pretty quick.” Vernon allows Seungkwan to lead them into the food place and place their orders, receiving a smile from the man behind the till. 

Vernon goes to fish out his wallet again, but feels the soft fingers of Seungkwan’s hand wrap around his wrist to stop him. “You already had to fork out for the wine, this is my treat.”

“A four dollar kebab. How thoughtful of you,” Vernon grins, pushing his tongue into his cheek. His eyes were still watering, but he could see through the haze that Seungkwan was smiling widely too as he passed over the correct amount of money.

“I do like to treat my dates like royalty.” The boy shrugs, his round cheeks rosy in the grungy lighting of the kebab house. Vernon is now very grateful they hadn’t had to endure the table manners of the fancy restaurant and speak in hushed tones in fear of the surrounding customers judging every word they said.

“Maybe,” he starts as Seungkwan passes him his polystyrene box filled to the brim with warm kebab and salad, “Maybe a fancy restaurant wasn’t the best place to ask you on a date.” Seungkwan nods and grabs his own food with a grin, leaning on the counter. “Maybe I wanted you to think I was a secret billionaire.”

“Mhm.” The boy stabs his fork into his food and takes a bite as he walks outside to sit on the windowsill of the takeaway place, Vernon trailing close behind. “I don’t think I’d like you nearly as much if you were.”

Seungkwan offers him the wine bottle and Vernon takes it, fingers lingering on Seungkwan’s own before he takes a sip and scrunches up his nose, this time in response to the wine.

“I didn’t say it before, but expensive wine fucking sucks.”

“Maybe you’ve got wine fever too, because I think it tastes pretty good.” Seungkwan jokes, taking the bottle back with his own little mock sniffle, and Vernon nudges him in the shoulder, earning him a laugh.

They sit in bouts of silence as they eat, interrupted with comments on how much better the food is here than it would be at the restaurant, with their tiny portion sizes and insufferable waiting staff. Seungkwan finishes off the wine and agrees that he’s had better wine at five dollars a bottle than that, and Vernon nods along as he appreciates the melodic sound of his date’s voice. 

Not quite the night he’d planned, Vernon thinks as he continuously sniffles and apologises as Seungkwan hands him tissue after tissue with a laugh on his lips, but he is glad that he hadn’t scared Seungkwan off as they agree to a movie before he walks the boy home. They linger outside of Seungkwan’s apartment, one that Vernon has been to only once before for a party, and stare into each other’s eyes with grins painted on their faces.

He thinks now would be the moment to kiss him like in a cheesy romcom because he likes him so much, even if Vernon is not one to kiss on the first date. But as the thought crosses through his mind, he can feel his nose running and he whips his hand up to cover it before Seungkwan is subjected to Niagara Falls happening on his own face. He groans and rolls his eyes, only stopping when he feels Seungkwan press a light, soft kiss to his exposed cheek, a cheek that was growing ever hotter by the second.

“Next time, don’t forget your allergy medicine, Vern. I’d quite like to kiss you without the fear of you sneezing into my mouth.”

Vernon winces in disgust, and Seungkwan shrugs with laughter at the truth, turning towards his door with a wave.

“Instead of flowers, I’ll pack some antihistamines just in case. Next week, eight?”

Vernon sniffs and beams at the boy, hands in his pockets, wishing that he still had his sunflowers in spite of everything. “Sounds perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> bully me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/TARANTlSM). + i hope you're all having a glorious day and keeping safe out there! ♡


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